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Jun 29, 2014

Feeling small…last update: 06/29 @ 15:34 With Sarah up in New Jersey, Robert and I took the canoe out today. We headed back to Jones Point and decided to scout out options for tying up the canoe on the Maryland side so we could visit National Harbor by canoe.

They are not very friendly to small watercraft at the commercial dock.

We were feeling a little small to have this eagle eyeing us as we paddled along…

… then we saw the Spirit of Mount Vernon coming upstream ahead of us. We decided not to race to cross in front of it (Robert still has Tom Sawyer to look forward to).

Annual Art Shootlast update: 06/28 @ 19:35 It’s time for the annual school art pictures. This year we’re adding a couple items from summer camp. This is Robert’s Dinosaur and Diorama camp diorama.

He really enjoyed the Smithsonian camp and the extra bonus of getting to ride the train in with Sarah — they mostly took the VRE, occasionally the metro. I don’t know if Robert realizes how good he has it to have some many transportation options at his fingertips.

Not part of the school or camp art fest, but with the camera and lights out, it only made sense for Robert to show off some Lego creations.

We paddled across the Potomac from the Virginia side (dodging motor boats, jet skis and small cruise ships) and arrived in time for a quick lunch before we climbed up to see what was happening in the fort.

There was a BLAM as we cleaned up our lunch.

Clearly our timing was Excellent!

We arrived just as they were preparing the second shot from the 2pm blast.

It was every bit as loud as it looks.

And they told us that they were using about 8 ounces of black powder — with an actual canon ball, they would be using more like a pound.

It was plenty loud enough to get your attention.

We staying for the final two shots of the day just because it’s so impressive.

Start of Summerlast update: 06/08 @ 15:49 Yesterday, with the beautiful weather and Robert recently out of school, we decided to bike across the bridge and check out the new Capital Wheel.

The bike ride was great; Robert’s new bike seemed to treat him really well and we made the full trip there without incident or need to walk. We did stop to take in the view from the bridge — the telescope and binoculars in the overlooks are free, a very nice bonus.

And the circular ride down from bridge to ground level was lots of fun.

The wheel was fun and the view was nice. But National Harbor is really too far from DC to say the view of the capital was great. It was nice; we really appreciated that the cars had air conditioning as it was about 85 outside.

It provided a great view of how much the area around National Harbor has been built up. It’s impressive considering there was nothing when we moved into our house.

Too bad the line for the wheel was outside; fortunately, mostly in the shade. We did see one patron ahead of us who fainted in the heat. Sarah predicts they will install misters before the summer is out.

And, of course, while there, we had to spend some time with The Awakening, the cool sculpture that was moved down from Hain’s Point when National Harbor was built.

And we stopped in at the Peep store to get a little extra energy (and cold water) for the trip back home.

Life of a Fifth Grader…last update: 06/07 @ 00:16 … we celebrated the end of 4th grade at the latest local hip spot, Grape and Bean. Robert announced he is now a 5th grader, having ended his fourth grade career on a series of parties.

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